I like it when the children come back to school and tell me about something that they have found out about or discovered at home.
I also like it when they share their learning with their parents, grandparents and other family members on our individual blogs or through our school facebook.
Working in partnership with parents is the vital link connecting home and school. Tools such as Ultranet, which we are currently developing at our school, are assisting us to bridge the gaps and engage children and their parents in their learning.
I also enjoy when children bring their home experiences to school to share with others. It can start new learning at school and connects children with each other their own experiences.
I think we can all appreciate that a positive relationship between the home and the school will enhance a students learning.
I believe that the key is to find a common interest or viewpoint. This could be a sporting or cultural activity. Last week we had our school Pet Day. What a wonderful opportunity for shared learning between the home and school environment that was. Parents helped the children to prepare their pets and put together the pet diary, and then the child (and often the parent as well) was able to share this at school. This led to a lot of really good discussion and interaction between a wide range of our school community. It also had the added benefit of involving a lot of Dads who can sometimes leave the 'school stuff' to the Mum's.
A really valuable learning experience that crossed over both home and school and involved everyone.
Learning needs to be asynchronous for all of us. It's not about where we are learning, it's about how we are learning and how deep the learning is. Learning needs o be available anywhere, anytime, but it also needs to be manageable for all of us.
Developing a variety of ways to communicate at anytime/ anywhere is very important for the learners in our school, this is also true for our parents. Using our students to "teach" their parents and to have the parents learn alongside the students is such a golden opportunity that we are so lucky to have the benefit of.
If I think back to when my own children were doing homework or hobbies at home, they prefered to learn in a central area (perhaps similar to the classroom setting). They liked talking about what they were doing and sharing ideas. As High School students they prefered to use the dining table for homework and again focussed on discussion and sharing. But when studying for exams they liked working quietly in their rooms.
All three were very individual - one prefered working on her bed when studying. Interestingly I am learning as an adult and I also love lolling on the bed so I can change my position to be comfortable.
Home learning is more informal but I realise with technology it can extend outside of school and even go off on different tangents.
Our school is in the process of starting up Ultranet which will create a strong connection between learning at home and school. Parents will have the opportunity to login and see their child's online portfolio and tasks that are uploaded. This could be in the form of a Google Doc, video, photos or a file. They then can comment and give their children comments and feedback. This helps the parents see where their child is at and what they are learning from any computer, ipad etc at anytime. There are opportunities for parents to do tasks with their children which may involve discussions. It is difficult as a teacher to get in touch with working parents, so Ultranet is going to bridge this gap. This is going to be a wonderful tool bringing learning from home into the classroom at school.
Our school puts an emphasis on Hauora Homework which involves discussions with families and community members. Children choose projects based on their interests and learning style and present their projects and interviews with classmates. We have found that the children take great pride and ownership over their homework choices, and show great interest in interviewing family, friends, and community members.
It is great when the children can get so involved and interested in their learning and take it home and share it with their families. Also vice versa when the children are engaged and motivated by something outside of school/the classroom and bring it in to share and engage/teach their peers.
Learning is happening all the time, no matter where we are. Children constantly learn from their parents and other members of the community. Teachers who are interested in that learning, and know what is happening in their lives outside school, can ensure links are made. We know what is relevant to the children and therefore likely to engage them. Communication with home means the parents know what is happening at school and they can show interest and widen the learning using thier skills.
Don't know that i can typify a learning time at home. Learning is new stuff full of wonder. Things just pop up. In the car questions, out gardening questions, supporting homework activities (occasionally), ideas from books or art inspirations from tv, lego constructions or currently doing a science experiment. Coming home from a friends place can often have new learning about the farm, gardening, abseilling.
We practise our reading, spelling and basic facts at the table or in the car, when we lived in the country anyway. It needs to be quiet for reading, so under the tree, on the couch cuddled up, or just off in your room.
There is also the learning of piano, swimming, dance, how to skip...
It is a drop what you're doing and listen, do, respond time. Kind of how i would like my classroom to operate.
We would love to hear your suggestions on what you think: